The meeting location for this trip and nearby locations really allows us to be flexible and cater the trip based on what the birds are doing. The previous night saw consistent southerly winds which can be difficult for warblers, but can often be good for other migrants such as vireos, flycatchers, grosbeaks etc. This combined with good timing for ducks made for the decision to quickly check Cards Pond, head to Moonstone Beach to walk the tide line searching for shorebirds and coastal migrants, and then head to Trustom for ducks, herons and passerines.

The trip was off to a great start even at the meeting location as we tallied several species including Broad-winged Hawk, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Baltimore Oriole.

Cards Pond proved to be a little slow with just a handful of ducks and several hummingbirds, swallows and migrant passerines still flying overhead. Soon after arriving, we got word of several interesting shorebirds at Moonstone Beach and headed directly there.

Moonstone Beach did not disappoint and we were treated to a mass of staging Tree Swallows that numbered more than 8,000! A quick walk down the beach to the ‘cut’ near Trustom gave excellent views of this impressive flock as well as a Merlin that Alex Patterson found. At the cut, we got excellent views of Buff-breasted and Baird’s Sandpipers.

Trustom Pond had a smattering of migrant passerines with a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher being the highlight. The pond itself had some interesting birds with Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Common Gallinule, American Coot and Black Tern as notable sightings.

Non-bird highlights included several Monarchs, a Cloudless Sulphur, and a Carolina Saddlebags.